So, I imagine special wheels will be required for these tires, or can they use any wheel, i.e. Fuchs?

Who is the manufacturer?

I wonder what they look like on Fuchs? Photoshop anyone?

The biggest problem the tweels is said to have is the transmission of noise and vibration.

Just think. The accurate placement of some playing cards flapping against the sidewall spokes should produce a nice engine-like noise since the electric motors powering the car will be basically noiseless.

Sherwood

That is a Fikse FM 10 Center there using on the wheel.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1168692835.jpg

Clearly this tire is just for those advertising; there will be a sidewall on it for production. I bet that they will still be filled with air to help absorb the impacts of daily driving.
I wold put them on my cars without hesitation. Good insurance for you and your family. No more roadside tire changes.

Just this once, you missed my point entirely. I am stating that all commercial enterprises are prone to selling as many consumables as possible in as short of time span as possible and not apt to kill the golden goose. Certainly few companies are in business for the purpose of protecting the environment over making a profit.

Actually, I hold Michelin in higher esteem than any oil producing/processing company. Whether this device will last longer than a conventional tire remains to be seen. But, it is obvious that that the millions of tires scrapped every year due to road hazzard damage will be significanly reduced, thereby allowing for fewer unit sales.

As far as design is concerned, I prefer the open sides and I would tend to believe that a small crown on the interior circumferrence would provide for the shaking off of any foreign debris such as mud or snow that would affect balance.

Speaking of balancing........

Yeah, I think its off like a cut away view of what could be a very nice run-flat tire.

Actually, I think they make that noise w/o the cards. Note that the development of these continues to add more and more spokes. If you can imagine, the early ones are like putting a rubber-band around an octagon --think about how that would "roll."

The tweel engineers would (and did) need to increase the number of spokes to smoothen the ride & noise. Else, they would have to stiffen the 'rim' . . which defeats the needed compliance. -- a balance and optimization problem for sure. Having to add a sidewall (to keep road guck out) adds to the cost, complexity and ultimate viability. (reg old "Tires" are a tough act to follow.)

All seriousness aside, these sidewall supports could provide added suspension tuning. They could be "active" in that they could contain electro-magnetic properties, energized by an interactive ECU signal to change the flexibility characteristics and thus create any type of jounce and rebound rate desired/needed for each corner depending on road and driving conditions/requirements - similar to ECU-controlled shock damping.

Sherwood

Those won't necessarily last forever! The treading will wear down and that will have to be changed very so many miles!

Looks geometrically similar to the wheels on the moon buggy